Tonight, the Fox TV series “Fringe” will air episodes #99 and #100 back-to-back… and then it will be gone. Some people in TV land won’t notice. Many may be surprised “Fringe” is even still around.

It is a pity because “Fringe” wins awards annually as one of the best sci-fi programs on TV. Its hard-core audiences of fans are fiercely loyal to the program; they succeeded in voting it the Best Drama on Television last year at the TV Guide Awards.

I chatted this week with the driving force behind Fringe, executive producer and showrunner, J.H. Wyman. I wanted to get his feelings on the end.

“If you had asked me a few weeks ago, I probably would have given you a different answer, “ Wyman told me. “It’s been a war to bring it to the end. We’ve beaten the odds so many times. I’ve been so busy directing that the end really came up on me quickly. Once the last shot happens, there are tears, its devastating. You’ve been with these people for such a long journey. But I’m very happy with where we are and where the story has come. It was such a blessing.”

“Fringe” debuted with a bang in 2008. Its second episode was watched by more than 13 million people, strong numbers for a program that was hard-core sci-fi. But, the ratings slipped from there. Fringe was never an easy show to watch, featuring complex storytelling that could punish you if you missed an episode. The stories sometimes spilled over from sci-fi into the realm of horror. In the middle of season three, Fox moved “Fringe” to a Friday night slot, generally seen as the kiss of death for most series. “Fringe” has since struggled to attract more than about 3 million viewers per episode.

But, Fox refused to kill the program. Wyman says the network has always looked for ways to keep “Fringe” on the air. “The partners at Fox have been very transparent. I understand the canvas I paint on is really expensive. You’ve got to have ratings. We have so many fans and so much love at Fox.”

Wyman acknowledged that if “Fringe” had been cancelled at the end of season 4, he had the story all wrapped up. So, when Fox gave him a 5th season, albeit one with just 13 episodes, it gave him a wide realm of possibilities. “Here’s the great thing about Fringe and why it is such a cool show to write,” he said, “It can go wherever you want in the coolest way you can imagine. We take the building blocks we have and we use them the best way we see fit. They grow.”

In season 5, Wyman took the show into the future. He put his main characters in suspended animation in the present and then freed them in the year 2036. It has made this season totally different from all the previous ones.

“At the beginning of every season the writers have a mini-camp and we talk about the season and what we want to do. If you are a fan of Fringe you must be a fan of human connection. That’s what I have been writing about from the beginning. For most seasons, we’ve told the stories from a point of view from above – you are watching the characters making emotional decisions. That’s great. But what was interesting this year was I came up with a new criteria. I wanted to move the camera down onto the floor. I wanted to put you right there and allow you to go through the emotional paces with these people. The fans should come out feeling like they know these characters even more than in the past.”

“At its heart, ‘Fringe’ is about the characters. [The main characters] Walter, Peter, and Olivia have tried for 5 years to make a family in a time that is hard to make families and keep families together. Life is valued by the human connections you make. Life is not easy. You have to go through some heavy stuff to get to that great stuff which is love and connection.”

As for the series finale itself, Wyman refused to spill the beans. As a fan of the show myself, I didn’t want him to ruin anything anyway. He did tell me that, “You should expect there will be some surprises and some very emotional things. Some things you may like, some things you may not. I always say I would like everything to make sense and I promise it will. I want the characters I have come to love to find their way.”

Wyman and the writers will be watching the finale at the Bad Robot offices, where JJ Abrams and Bryan Burke, came up with the idea for Fringe more than a half decade ago. Wyman says he is looking forward to taking a few days off, he admits that the one thing he didn’t like about Fringe was the fact that he felt like he only got maybe one day off a year. But, he expects to be busy again soon. He is currently working with JJ Abrams on a new show. Wyman is writing a pilot for a series that he describes as “’Blade Runner,’ except imagine if Decker and Rutger Hauer were cops and partners. I’m obsessed with technology and where it is going. That’s what I’m, going to examine.”

And his final word on the end of “Fringe”was what he hoped fans would think after watching the 100th, and last, episode. “What I really want is, the next day after viewing it, for fans to be able to get in their car and say ‘I could imagine I know where these people I love are. They are just a universe away.’”

If you want to read more of Jason Evans’ commentary on the Movie and TV industry, follow him on Twitter @TVFilmTalk